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The Lower Mainland’s newest online marketplace will open on Monday, April 28, when LikeItBuyItVancouver.com begins previewing a limited-time sale of everything from household goods to consumer electronics to cruises, travel, cars, gift cards and personal services.

Sun worshippers advised to arrive early or be prepared to walk

Photograph by: Steve Bosch
, PNG

Scores of Lower Mainland beach-goers have been turned away from popular swimming holes — or trudged more than a kilometre for a dip — as this summer’s prolonged heat wave sends people scurrying for the water.

And with more sunny weather forecast for this weekend — Environment Canada predicts highs of at least 24C for Saturday and Sunday — those wanting a swim, picnic or a tanning session at the beach should take transit or head out before 10 a.m. or early in the evening to get a coveted parking spot.

“Get there early,” warns Alan Taylor, operations supervisor of Metro Vancouver’s parks division. “Everyone’s kind of doing the same thing so you may end up parking on the street or walking a little further to get there.”

Metro Vancouver has closed the gates to Belcarra’s Sasamat and White Pine Beach nine times this summer because the 380-space parking lot was full, Taylor said.

On B.C. Day, for instance, the gates were shut at 10:30 a.m. and didn’t reopen until 4 p.m. They were also closed the previous two days, while nearby Buntzen Lake and Mission’s Hayward Lake — BC Hydro-owned reservoirs — experienced a similar situation, closing as early as 10 a.m. Monday and not reopening until 4 p.m.

“It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis only,” said BC Hydro spokeswoman Mora Scott. “When the parking lots are full the gates would be closed and no re-entry permitted.”

The gates are needed to ensure there’s space for buses and emergency vehicles to get through, Taylor said. If they were left open, drivers would likely park anywhere they could find a space, including the narrow shoulderless road into White Pine Beach.

They only reopen once the parking lot has been sufficiently cleared out, which usually happens in the early afternoon.

“Our biggest problem we have at White Pine is that if you allow one in, one out, you have cars stacked up on Bedwell Bay Road,” Taylor said. “At Buntzen, the gates are at the end so the cars have to circle around and can’t park and wait.”

Visitors can always park on the road and walk in, Taylor added. It’s about a one-kilometre walk into White Pine Beach and two kilometres into Buntzen Lake.

The neighbouring Belcarra picnic area at Sasamat and Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen don’t have gates, but Taylor said the “parking lot full” signs have gone up 15 times and nine times respectively so far this summer.

Taylor noted the good weather and the growing population in the Lower Mainland, especially the highrises around Newport Village in Port Moody, have contributed to the region’s overcrowded beaches.

Usually there’s a huge spike in beach use as soon as school gets out but it usually winds down as people find other activities.

“Staff say they don’t have all the counts in right now but it’s feeling much busier,” he said. “It’s been really hot this year.”

Other beaches are also packing them in. Richmond’s Iona Beach is seeing more people in the evenings, while Vancouver park board chairman Aaron Jasper said Kits and Jericho are attracting the usual hordes.

“If you go to Jericho on the weekend, it’s going to be crowded,” he said, adding he usually heads to the beach on a weekday to beat the crowds.

Jasper said the prolonged hot spell seems to have spread out the droves of weekend beach-goers, who typically race to the water at the first sign of sunshine.

“We’ve been having such nice, consistent weather it’s been taking the pressure off,” Jasper said, adding “the locals know how to adapt.”

Or they’re just throwing caution to the wind. People are still flocking to West Vancouver’s Ambleside, Dundarave, Sandy Cove and Eagle Harbour, for instance, despite swimming advisories for E. coli. Vancouver’s Sunset Beach has also been closed.

Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Anna Marie D’Angelo said the health authority will only close beaches for things like an oil spill and it’s up to swimmers to know the risks. She said the hot weather is likely causing an increasing number of swimming advisories because it has resulted in more bacteria without the rain to dilute or flush it out.

“We can’t stop people from going in the water,” she said, but added: “They’re increasing the risk for an intestinal problem.”

False Creek has also been cited with a high E. coli count, she said, but it is mainly used by paddlers and not swimmers or bathers so there isn’t as much risk of people ingesting the water and getting sick.

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